Sir Philip Christison; General, 100, Took Japanese Surrender

Gen. Sir Philip Christison, the British commander to whom the Japanese surrendered in Singapore at the end of World War II, died on Tuesday at his farm in Melrose in southern Scotland. He was 100 and the oldest living British general.

Much decorated in two world wars, he lived through some of the fiercest fighting in both. In 1944, his troops inflicted the first decisive defeat on the Japanese in Burma, now Myanmar. It was the beginning of a Japanese rout and the reversal of what had been a disastrous Allied campaign.

Alexander Frank Philip Christison, a fourth baronet, was born into a distinguished Scottish family of physicians. His father, Sir Alexander Christison, was surgeon general of His Majesty's Bengal Army, and the son at first followed in his footsteps.

He studied medicine at Oxford University and was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914. In a change of mind, he joined his county regiment, the Cameron Highlanders, as a second lieutenant and survived an almost suicidal British advance against the Germans on the Western Front. He won the Military Cross, but at one point was badly wounded.

He rose through various commands, and by 1938 was a colonel commanding an Indian brigade in British Baluchistan. The Japanese entered World War II in December 1941 and had overrun Singapore and nearly all of Burma when General Christison, then a lieutenant general, made his stand at Arakan on tbe Gulf of Bengal.

Instead of retreating further, he surprised the Japanese by having India-based planes supply his forces. He defied encirclement and went on the offensive. It became a turning point in the struggle. Suffering severe losses, the Japanese pulled back and Rangoon, now Yangon, was recaptured.

General Christison had the satisfaction of taking the surrender of all Japan's land, sea and air forces in Southeast Asia on Sept. 3, 1945, in Singapore. At the time, he was the highest British officer on the ground as pro tem Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces, Southeast Asia.

He was promoted to full general in 1947 and retired in 1949 to tend his land in Scotland.

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A version of this obituary; biography appears in print on December 24, 1993, on Page B00007 of the National edition with the headline: Sir Philip Christison; General, 100, Took Japanese Surrender. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe